Mariano Rajoy: I’m Spain’s only hope

MADRID — Mariano Rajoy told Spanish MPs Tuesday there is no “no viable alternative” to his leadership, a day before they vote on his re-election.

Rajoy gave three reasons for being given a second term in office during his investiture speech in Congress: that Spain urgently needs a government, that his Popular Party came out on top in two elections, and there’s no other party leader capable of running the country.

In a speech lasting more than an hour — and which was so unemotional that Ciudadanos’ Juan Carlos Girauta complained about the acting prime minister’s “lack of faith” — Rajoy defended his record, saying he saved a country that was “on the verge of collapse” and tried to put pressure on the Socialists and their leader Pedro Sánchez to back him, something they have steadfastly refused to do.

Rajoy needs the extra support or his candidacy is doomed to fail. Rajoy’s PP holds 137 seats and can now count on 32 votes from the Ciudadanos deputies thanks to a deal the two parties struck last week. He also has an additional vote from a regional party in the Canary Islands, bringing the number of backers to 170 — still six votes short of the majority he needs to form a new government.

“I can hardly think of a bigger harm to democracy than to tell Spaniards that their vote has been useless twice” — Mariano Rajoy

The acting PM argued that Spain’s economy is doing well but warned of the downsides of political instability, which Spain knows all about after eight months under a caretaker government.

“Everything has a limit,” he said, adding that Spain is being watched by investors and the European Union and arguing that the country needs to approve a new budget for 2017 and meet EU-negotiated deficit targets.

“My proposal is the only real possibility that Spain can have a moderate government,” he said, adding that this was no time for “an adventure of radicalism, inefficiency and uncertainty.”

“I can hardly think of a bigger harm to democracy than to tell Spaniards that their vote has been useless twice and to have to repeat general elections for a third time,” he said.

While Rajoy defended the deal he struck with Ciudadanos on Sunday, he was hardly full of praise for his new partners, putting them at the same level as the Coalición Canaria, which has one MP, and praising his own anti-corruption measures at the expense of those pushed for by Rivera’s party.

Rajoy said other parties were welcome to join the coalition — referring to the Socialists — and argued that any alternative government would by endangered by those who “defy our democratic institutions and break our territorial unity,” a reference to Catalan pro-independence forces, with whom Sánchez may need to strike a deal if he wants to put up an alternative coalition.

Rajoy defined the Catalan regional government’s secession plan as the most important challenge the country was facing. “Let there be no ambiguity in this regard”, he said. “The only sovereign people in Spain is the Spanish people. And nothing can undermine this foundation in which our whole democratic system is based,” he added.

He said Spain was at one of the gravest “crossroads” in the past 40 years, a time in which “responsibility” was needed.

If Rajoy fails to become prime minister next week, political leaders have until October 31 to break the deadlock. If they are unable to form a coalition until then, the country will hold a new election on December 25.

“I have to suppose that all of us want Spain to avoid new elections. Or is there someone who’s thinking about calling Spaniards again to the ballots? And how many times may he be willing to do so?” Rajoy asked.